David Lester McBride's Draft Card

David Lester McBride and Annie Leishman Brown McBride were married 18 January 1911, the outset of a turbulent decade. Neta was born late that same year, Reba joined the family early in 1913 and Annie Ruth was born in 1915.

Direct U.S. military involvement in World War I began on 6 April 1917 after three years of stubborn isolationism. Initially only 32,000 men volunteered. The commitment to send a large U.S. force to Europe led to the passage of the Selective Service Act. Under its mandate, three draft lotteries were held during the next 18 months. The first, which was held on 5 June 1917, required that eligible men born between 1886 and 1896 (ages 20-30) register for the draft. The second was one year later to the day, for those who had turned 20 during the previous 12 months. Of the combined 11 million men who registered for these two lotteries, almost 2 million were actually drafted. Unfortunately, this was not enough.

At the request of the War Department, Congress amended the Selective Service Act in August 1918 to expand the age range to include all men 18 to 45. Suddenly 36-year-old father of 4, David Lester McBride, was draft eligible. He was to report to the Cache County draft board on September 12 to register for the third draft lottery.

The previous January, David and Annie had welcomed their first son into the family, Ward Lester. Ward was only 7 months old at the time of the draft lottery.  I can only imagine the anxiety David and Annie experienced when they heard about the draft. He reported that day and filled out his draft registration card. Here is the card:

While in good health and otherwise eligible, David was not selected. Thankfully, he was allowed to remain home to care and provide for his growing family. They experienced war on the home front. One inventory of typical wartime activities experienced by many Utahns included planting "victory gardens," preserving food, volunteering for work in the beet fields and on Utah's fruit farms, purchasing Liberty Bonds, giving "Four Minute" patriotic speeches, collecting money for the Red Cross, using meat and sugar substitutes, observing meatless days, knitting socks, afghans, and shoulder wraps, weaving rugs for soldiers' hospitals, making posters, prohibiting the teaching of the German language in some schools, and cultivating patriotism at every opportunity.

During these same trying years (1917-1920), an influenza pandemic swept the nation killing an estimated 600,000 Americans. In 1920, the deadly virus claimed the lives of 5-year-old Annie Ruth and 2-year-old Ward Lester. Neta recalled: "When the little kids died, I [was] 7. I can remember when they carried those little things out, and how everyone was so sick.... Mother, seems like that all she did was cry.... She couldn’t get over those kids dying... They’d done something out there on that porch and she wouldn’t ever let us paint over it because she says that was the last finger prints... she’d ever see."

Annie, already prone to anxiety and depression, would never fully recover from this terrible blow. She died in the Utah State Hospital in Provo on 27 October 1932. But that is a subject for another day.